Telecoms

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns improvements to telecoms systems. In the proposed method and apparatus, an image (which may have advertising content) is displayed to a caller and a recipient prior to relaying a caller message. This supplementary image may take the place of conventional text such as CALLING. On audio/visual equipment, an audio message may take the place of a ringing tone.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.09/858,174, filed May 15, 2001, which claims priority to BritishApplication No. GB 0011747.3, filed May 17, 2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to improvements to telecommunications systems. Inparticular, the invention relates to method and apparatus for enablingeffective advertising or the passing on of supplementary visualinformation using the communication networks system.

Up until now, conventional advertising has been achieved by means ofradio, TV, or other conventional media such as newspapers, magazines,etc. Increasingly, cold calling has gone ahead by representatives ofcompanies using the telephone system. However, such cold calling byindividuals is often un-appreciated by the recipient of the phone calland, often, the person receiving the calls will resort to any excuse totry and, reasonably politely, make their excuses to end the telephoneconversation. Also, from the advertising company's point of view, it isoften a thankless task cold calling since it is necessary to employtelesales staff who run the risk of frequently being verbally abused byhouse holders.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a methodfor transmitting pre-recorded images using telecom networks, wherebywhen telecommunications apparatus is used by a caller to send a messageto a recipient, a supplementary image is visually transmitted frommessaging equipment to the caller in addition to, or to replace,conventional connection messages or text.

The invention of the first aspect thereby provides a means for relayingan advertising message comprising an image (text or graphics) to acaller whilst the caller is awaiting the establishment of aconnection/transmission.

Preferably, if, during transmission of the supplementary image to thecaller, the telecommunications apparatus establishes a connection withthe recipient, then the display of the supplementary image isterminated.

Preferably, the image is used in conjunction with traditional tones ortext relayed to the caller so that if the telecom apparatus is notanswered by the recipient during a predetermined time period, the imagewhich the caller sees is replaced by the conventional tone or text.

A second aspect of the invention concerns a method for transmittingpre-recorded images using the telecom network, in which a recipient ofthe transmission sees a pre-recorded image upon receiving transmission,the image being relayed, prior to connection between caller andrecipient being effected or prior to transmission of a message from thecaller.

In the above aspects, it is preferred that such a supplementary image ispresented for viewing to the caller prior to connection or prior totransmission of a message from the caller to the recipient betweencaller and recipient being established.

In the case of text messaging, the supplementary image is preferablyplaced before, after or in the text of the text message.

In the case of mixed media messages, such as video phone messaging thesupplementary image may be transmitted to the recipient prior to amessage from the caller being relayed to the recipient.

Preferably, the recipient is arranged to receive a further supplementaryimage subsequent to termination of a message from the caller.

The image seen by the recipient is preferably the same image as thatseen by the caller.

The image preferably has an advertising and/or information content.

Preferably, statistical feed back concerning the number of times a givenimage was transmitted to a caller and/or a recipient is provided to aninformation provider.

Preferably, images are conveyed only to telecom system users who haveindicated a willingness to receive such images or alternatively may beprimarily available to all networks/systems.

Preferably, telecom users accepting such images are provided with timeat subsidized prices.

The subsidy may be borne by providers of the imaging service.

The user is preferably provided with the capability of choosing the typeof image they wish to receive.

According to a third aspect, there is provided apparatus forimplementing a method according to any of the preceding claims, in whichthe apparatus comprises: means for detecting a signal on a telecomsystem indicating that there is an incoming message transmission; andmeans for responding to this detection by inserting a supplementaryimage or images into the message transmission.

The apparatus may be arranged to transmit the supplementary image(s) toa caller, and/or it may be arranged to insert the supplementary image(s)into the message and relay the message with inserted supplementaryimage(s) to a recipient.

Preferably, in the case of text messaging the supplementary image(s)is/are inserted in a part of a message from the caller and will bevisible to the recipient on retrieval of the text message.

Preferably, the supplementary image is displayed to the recipient duringan initial answer phase immediately following connection beingestablished or message transmission.

Preferably, said apparatus comprises cellular/wired telecommunicationssystems and other terrestrial or satellite transmissions capable ofreceiving text messaging.

Preferably, the telecommunications system may be configured so as toconvey such supplementary images only to system users who have indicateda willingness to receive such images.

Telecommunications system users indicating such a willingness arepreferably provided with communications at subsidized prices.

The subsidy is preferably borne by providers of the imaging service.

Preferably, a system user is provided with the capability of choosingthe type of image they wish to receive alternatively, choice of imagetype may be made by a service provider.

The image may also have an audible message associated with it andtransmitted to the caller during a predetermined time period.

The telecommunications apparatus may comprise a telephone receiver orcomputer or television receiver or other device referred to simplyhereinafter as telecom apparatus.

The telecom apparatus may be a domestic or commercial system.

The predetermined time period, in a preferred audible embodiment, isfive seconds. However, it will be appreciated that alternative timedurations may be possible or desirable.

In preferred embodiments, the predetermined time period may be selectedby an advertising organization. In the case of mixed video/audiotransmissions, the advertising organization may pay an imaging serviceprovider according to the length of the predetermined time period orother criteria such as the particular time during the day in which aparticular image is to be transmitted when an incoming call is detected.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how embodimentsof the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, byway of example, to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing how a first embodiment of asystem generally in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention may be implemented; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a second embodiment of asystem in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a master unit 40 of the FIG. 2embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown schematically caller equipment1, recipient's equipment 2, a telecom system 3 and add on equipment 4.

The caller equipment 1 and recipient equipment 2 are standard existingequipments (at least in the preferred embodiment). In other words, theyrepresent conventional image equipped telephone, television, computer orsatellite transmitting/receiving equipment (herein referred to astelecoms apparatus). Where the term “image equipped” is used here, thismeans able to receive text or graphical information. Also, the systemsequipment 3 is basically standard but interfaces with add on equipment4. The add on equipment 4 is triggered by an originating caller 1dialing (in the case of image equipped telephone equipment) a numbercorresponding to the connecting number of the recipient caller equipment2. When detecting a call transmission from equipment 1 to equipment 2,the add-on equipment 4 is arranged to transmit an image to theoriginator caller prior to the connection tone/text. In other words,while the caller using equipment 1 is making a transmission call torecipient equipment 2, instead of (or in addition to) hearing a calltone or seeing a text such as CALLING or ESTABLISHING CONNECTION, asupplementary image is displayed to the caller for, for instance, thefirst few seconds. The recipient, when answering the call using therecipient telephone apparatus 2, will, instead of being connectedstraight away to the originating caller initially see the supplementaryimage from add on equipment 4. In this manner, images of an informativeand/or advertising nature may be passed using the telephone network.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a second embodiment of a systemin accordance with the present invention. In the embodiment shown, theapparatus comprises caller equipment 10, mobile telephone serviceprovider equipments 20, a group connection provider 30, supplementaryimage insertion equipment comprising a master unit 40 and slave units50, mobile telephone service provider equipments 60 and recipientequipment 70.

In the drawing: double arrows (>>) represent outgoing call image/messagetraffic to recipient; triple arrows (>>>) represent outgoing callreverse image message traffic to originating caller; and reversed arrows(<>) represent 2 way traffic to initiating caller processed by the groupconnection provider 30.

To describe now the operation of the system of FIG. 2, it is supposedthat a particular caller 10, may wish to establish a connection with aparticular recipient 70. To make the call, a caller will turn on hiscaller equipment 10 and it will first be established that there is asignal available via the caller's particular mobile telephone serviceprovider equipment 20. The caller will then proceed to dial a particularrecipient number. Whilst the service provider equipment 20 isestablishing the connection between caller/recipient, via the groupconnection provider equipment 30, a supplementary image for advertisingmay be inserted by co-operation of master/slave equipment 40, 50 andrelayed to the caller. This supplementary image may be displayed to thecaller whilst text such as CALLING, ESTABLISHING CONNECTION is beingdisplayed to the user (or may be displayed instead of such text).

A supplementary image is also conveyed to the recipient by insertion ofan image by the master unit 40 and conveyed to recipient 70 by themaster unit 40 via the group connection provider 30 and service providerequipment 60. This supplementary image may be the same or a differentimage to the one received by the caller. Indeed, the image inserted maybe paid for by the particular respective service providers of the callerand recipient and may accordingly be chosen by them. Alternatively,image selection may be random or simply on a time slot basis withadvertisers paying for particular supplementary images at certain times.The image displayed to the recipient may be displayed during an initialperiod following connection, preceding the display or other conveying ofthe caller message. Alternatively/additionally, the image may beconveyed at the end of the caller message.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown in schematic form theconstruction of master unit 40. The master unit 40 comprises a triggerblock 42, a selector sequence block 44, an image/message insertion block46, and a routing sequencer 48.

The trigger block 42 receives the call request from the group connectionprovider 30 and initiates a trigger for the selector sequence block(what does this do?) 44, this selector block 44 decides the type ofimage to be added to the message. This selection may be done accordingto a user preference, an advertiser preference, or randomly forinstance. The message then arrives at the insertion block where thesupplementary image(s) for the recipient/caller is/are insertedaccording to the selector criteria. The insertion block then passes thecompound message with supplementary image to the routing sequencer 48which then conveys this compound message to recipient via the groupconnection provider 30 and service provider equipments 60, as well asproviding supplementary image to the caller via slave units 50.

The above assumes a cell phone type network, cable phone or land line.It will be appreciated that the principles of the invention also extendto other types of messaging such as emails. In certain types oftransmission, a caller may receive confirmation of receipt of a messageby the recipient. It is of course within the scope of this invention toprovide confirmation to the caller that the message was delivered and toinclude a further image into such confirmation message.

The master and slave modules 40, 50 may do all the image insertion intothe various transmissions mentioned above. Essentially, the master 40may receive a caller message and insert an appropriate image (text orgraphic) at an appropriate point, prior to relaying this compoundmessage to the recipient. In parallel, the master 40 and slave unit 50send an image back to the caller across the network. Having a slave unit50 is not necessarily essential to the invention as all work may be doneby the master unit 40. However, it is anticipated that in order toprovide an efficient system, such a master/slave network will berequired, with slave units 50 fulfilling the role of feeding backconfirmations of receipt to callers with an added supplementary image,whilst others provide the image to callers prior to message receipt andstill others providing the image embedding to the recipient message.

Also, whilst master and slaves are shown, it will be realized thatsupplementary image insertion at the various stages may be done bymultiple masters working autonomously.

Other variations to the details of embodiments will be within the scopeof the invention.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which arefiled concurrently with or previous to this specification in connectionwith this application and which are open to public inspection with thisspecification, and the contents of all such papers and documents areincorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including anyaccompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps ofany method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination,except combinations where at least some of such features and/or stepsare mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanyingclaims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative featuresserving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly statedotherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each featuredisclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent orsimilar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoingembodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novelcombination, of the features disclosed in this specification (includingany accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, orany novel combination, of the steps of any method or process sodisclosed.

1. A method for transmitting a pre-recorded supplementary image using atelecommunications network during the establishment of a telephone callbetween a caller using caller equipment and a recipient using recipientequipment, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a connectionrequest signal by the recipient equipment prior to establishing aconnection between the caller and the recipient; selecting apre-recorded supplementary image unrelated to the caller; displaying onthe recipient equipment the pre-recorded supplementary image to replaceconventional connection messages, upon receiving the connection requestsignal, the prerecorded supplementary image being relayed prior toconnection between the caller and the recipient being effected; if therecipient does not answer during a predetermined time period, thenreplacing the pre-recorded supplementary image by connection messagetext; and if, during displaying of the pre-recorded supplementary image,a connection is established between the caller and the recipient,transmission of the pre-recorded supplementary image is terminated. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-recorded supplementary image hasat least one of an advertising and information content.
 3. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising displaying on the caller equipment thepre-recorded supplementary image prior to connection between the callerand the recipient being established.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinpre-recorded supplementary images are conveyed only totelecommunications system users who have indicated a willingness toreceive such pre-recorded supplementary images.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein pre-recorded supplementary image insertion is available toall network service providers.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theselecting act includes randomly selecting a pre-recorded supplementaryimage unrelated to the caller.
 7. The method of claim 3 wherein thepre-recorded supplementary image displayed on the recipient equipmentand the pre-recorded supplementary image displayed on the callerequipment is the same pre-recorded supplementary image.